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Ahead of the 2025 ICC Women’s U-19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia, Nigeria’s Junior Female Yellow Greens will be involved in two warm-up matches against Pakistan and Scotland during their final camping in India, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
After two phases of preparations in Benin City and Logos, the team will depart Nigeria for India where they will face Pakistan on Monday, January 13 as well as Scotland two days later.
Both Pakistan and Scotland are also billed for the second edition of the Women’s U-19 World Cup with the Asians in Group along with England, Ireland and the United States while Scotland are grouped with Australia, Bangladesh and debutants Nepal.
The last friendly comes three days before their first match at the World Cup against Samoa at the Borneo Cricket Ground, Sarawak, Malaysia.
They will face test nation New Zealand in their second game of the tournament on Monday, January 20 and South Africa in the last group game two days later.
At a brief flag-off ceremony for the team in Lagos on Friday, the president of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Uyi Akpata expressed confidence in the ability of the team.
“I do believe in these girls now that I believe it is genuinely possible,” Akpata said.
“These young ladies are showcasing and representing what cricket is all about. Each step of the way has been deliberate. Just go there and continue to deliver on your ability and what you have been doing before.”
Head coach of the team, Sarah Bakhita, also expressed optimism ahead of their final preparations in India.
“We are going to meet experts so I feel like what we are going to do in India is just fine-tuning because we have done most of the work in Nigeria. We will also be working on our weaknesses,” the Kenyan coach told our correspondent.
The Women’s U-19 World Cup will mark Nigeria’s second appearance at any cricket World Cup, six years after the men’s U-19 team also qualified for the 2019 edition in South Africa.
English (US) ·